Missouri. Confederate Home, Higginsville, Records, 1897-1944 (C0066)

2.6 linear feet, 12 volumes; also available on 7 rolls of microfilm

MICROFILM

INTRODUCTION

The records of the Confederate Home at Higginsville, Missouri include blueprints, correspondence, contracts, financial records, minutes, photographs, and reports. They also contain 18 volumes including cash books, farm accounts, general records, journals, ledgers, and voucher registers.

DONOR INFORMATION

The Confederate Home of Missouri Records were donated to the University of Missouri on 22 March 1954 by the Higginsville Development Company (Accession No. 3192).

ORGANIZATIONAL SKETCH

In 1889, Missouri Confederate Army veterans gathered for their annual reunion in Higginsville. This meeting resulted in the foundation of the Confederate Home Association. With the express purpose of creating a refuge for the less fortunate of their comrades, the Association purchased 365 acres of farmland just north of Higginsville. The Daughters of the Confederacy and other newly formed southern patriotic women's organizations immediately commenced fundraising for the construction and furnishing of dwellings on the site.

By April 1891, the Confederate Soldiers Home of Missouri admitted the first veteran, Julius Bamberg. More than 1,600 veterans, wives, children, and widows sought shelter at the home until it closed in 1950. Unlike other Southern veteran institutions, Missouri's home admitted women and children from its beginning.

Severe funding difficulties led to the state of Missouri taking over financial control of the home in 1897, but a board of trustees made up of Confederate veterans continued to oversee its operation. Johnny Graves, the last surviving Missouri Confederate veteran, died at the home on 8 May 1950 at the age of 108. He was buried in the site's cemetery alongside 800 others. The state of Missouri transferred the four remaining widows to a nursing home shortly thereafter, officially closing the Confederate Soldiers Home of Missouri.

Although many of the dilapidated structures were torn down by another state agency, the Missouri State Park Board assumed management of the remaining property and today the 135-acre Confederate Memorial State Historic Site commemorates the more than 40,000 Missouri soldiers who fought for the Confederacy (information taken from the state park web site at http://www.mostateparks.com/confedmem/geninfo.htm).

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Confederate Home Records consist of correspondence, blueprints, contracts, financial records, minutes, photographs, and reports. The 18 volumes include a cash book, farm accounts, general records, journals, ledgers, and voucher registers. The collection is loosely arranged into two series: General Papers and Volumes.

The records provide insight into the business aspects of the home operation. Unfortunately, there are no interviews with the residents or their families.

FOLDER LIST

General Papers Series

The General Papers series includes audits by the Missouri State auditor; bills of sale from the Livestock Commission Company which supplied the building materials, foodstuffs, drugs, clothing, and other items for the Home; and financial records. This series also contains correspondence pertaining to new construction and furnishings, appropriations and licensing, Confederate and Federal cemetery materials, and applications for employment; legal papers; registration papers for farm animal stock; miscellaneous papers including blueprints, newspaper clippings, and advertisements; minutes and reports of board meetings, the health of residents, necessary repairs, and general state of the Home; and photographs. The series is arranged by type of record.

f. 1Audits, 1921-1931
f. 2Audits, 1933-1936
f. 3Audits, 1936-1941
f. 4Bills of Sale, 1906-1919
f. 5Bills of Sale, 1931
f. 6-8Bills of Sale, 1941
f. 9-18Bills of Sale, 1942
f. 19-24Bills of Sale, 1943
f. 25Checks and Receipts, 1902-1939
f. 26Checks and Receipts, 1940-1941
f. 27Checks and Receipts, 1943-1944
f. 28Correspondence, 1902-1908
f. 29Correspondence, 1909-1913
f. 30Correspondence, 1920-1943
f. 31Legal Papers, Bond, 1905
f. 32Legal Papers, Contracts, 1897
f. 33Legal Papers, Contracts, 1901-1904
f. 34Legal Papers, Contracts, 1913
f. 35Legal Papers, Contracts, 1920-1921
f. 36Legal Papers, Insurance, 1906-1911
f. 37Legal Papers, Insurance, 1911-1912
f. 38Legal Papers, Insurance, 1912
f. 39Legal Papers, Insurance, 1912-1913
f. 40-41Legal Papers, Insurance, 1913
f. 42-43Legal Papers, Insurance, 1914
f. 44-45Legal Papers, Requisitions, 1897
f. 46Registration Papers, 1908-1913
f. 47-52Miscellaneous, Undated
f. 53Reports and Minutes, 1903-1932
f. 54Reports and Minutes, 1932
f. 55Reports and Minutes, 1932-1933
f. 56Reports and Minutes, 1933
f. 57Reports and Minutes, 1933-1934
f. 58Reports and Minutes, 1934
f. 59Reports and Minutes, 1934-1935
f. 60Reports and Minutes, 1935
f. 61Reports and Minutes, 1935-1936
f. 62Reports and Minutes, 1936
f. 63Reports and Minutes, 1936-1937
f. 64Reports and Minutes, 1937
f. 65Reports and Minutes, 1937-1938
f. 66Reports and Minutes, 1938
f. 67Reports and Minutes, 1938-1939
f. 68Reports and Minutes, 1939
f. 69Reports and Minutes, 1939-1940
f. 70-71Reports and Minutes, 1940
f. 72Photograph- Home, Veterans
f. 73Photograph- Last Board of Trustees
f. 74Photographs- Farm, Residences

Volumes Series

The Volumes series contains the operating books of the Home and includes the cash book, farm accounts, journals, ledgers, voucher register, register cards of the residents, and general records. The series is arranged chronologically.

v. 1Ledger, 1897-1898
v. 2Ledger, 1899-1900
v. 3Ledger, 1901-1902
v. 4Ledger, 1902-1903
v. 5Journal, 1902-1905
v. 6Ledger, 1909-1922
v. 7Records, 1913-1921
v. 8Journal, 1914-1921
v. 9Cash Book, 1918-1925
v. 10Voucher Register, 1918-1930
v. 11Farm Account Book, 1928-1934
v. 12Records, 1929-1933
v. 13Cash Book, 1930-1934
v. 14Journal, 1937-1938
v. 15Petty Cash Account, 1937-1943
v. 16Journal, 1939-1944
v. 17Gas/Fuel Oil, 1942, May-September
v. 18Register Cards

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at The State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.